The European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) 2020 has been cancelled. The news came late on Sunday (March 15) when the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) announced the cancellation of this year’s event.

Due to have been held in Geneva from May 26th-28th, the decision to cancel came as the Swiss authorities ruled that all events of more than 100 people would be banned until 30th April at the earliest. Furthermore, EBAA has confirmed to Corporate Jet Investor that the event was cancelled, not postponed and that the next event will be in 2021.

Frederique Luca, EBAA head of communications, told Corporate Jet Investor the organisation was very disappointed to announce the cancellation of EBACE 2020. “We have been monitoring the rapidly evolving situation very closely for months now. Beyond the Swiss authorities’ advice, our primary concern is the safety of participants, exhibitors, members of the media, and our own teams. The health authorities last week strongly recommended implementing social distancing measures to delay the spread of the virus, and we must do everything we can to mitigate any further risks.”

 Luca added: “The latest announcements around travel restrictions and border checks have also contributed to complicating the necessary preparations for EBACE, as much for the participants as for the organisers involved.”

 NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen said: “As with all NBAA events, we view our participants as partners, whose health and well-being is our foremost concern, and that priority is front and centre in our decision to cancel EBACE 2020.”

EBAA secretary-general Athar Husain Khan said, “This is the hardest decision EBAA’s management and Board of Governors have had to make in years. But given the unprecedented circumstances, we had no other choice. We must do everything we can to help protect against exposure to COVID-19, and mitigate any risks associated with the spread of the virus.”

Elsewhere, the NBAA announced last Thursday (March 12th), the decision to conclude its Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC) 2020 a day early. It also cancelled two upcoming events: the 2020 International Operators Conference (IOC2020), that had been due to take place from March 16th to 19th, and the 2020 Business Aircraft Finance, Registration & Legal Conference, due to run between March 22nd-24th.

Bolen concluded: “We will keep members and partners apprised with regard to how this challenging and continually evolving situation impacts upcoming events.”

NBAA said it would analyse developments between now and July and would release further information shortly.

The two cosponsoring partners have agreed that exhibit and registration fees will be refunded in full. For more information, attendees should email registration@ebace.aero, and exhibitors should email to exhibits@ebace.aero